Dispensing valve having dip-tube suspension means



Aug. 26, 1958 J. W.-SOFFER ETAL 2,849,163

DISPENSING VALVE HAVING DIP-TUBE SUSPENSION MEANS Filed May 8, 1957 4 l 2 0 5 5 I 5 '1 6 G 2 F 5 8 F 2 2 5 PO- I I 9 2 4 I 4 wu 3 5 F 8 l 4 m v i m l 3 l MW 43 o 9 I O l l I 7 8 55 ll 2 2 5 4 8 6 4 0 4 2 3 m 3 Am P G 3 m w v F 9 l W 2 3 EUPERT ATTORNEY United States Patent U DISPENSING VALVE HAVING DIP-TUBE SUSPENSION MEANS Jack W. Solfer, St. Louis, and Eugene H. Neupert, Ferguson, Mo., assignors to Development Research, Inc., St. Louis, M0,, a corporation of Missouri Application May 8, 1957, Serial No. 657,969

8 Claims. (Cl. 222-394) This invention relates to improvements in dispensing valves for pressure dispensers, and particularly in means for securing a dip-tube in flow communication with such valves. Reference is made to co-pending application Serial No. 577,680, filed April 12, 1956, now Patent No. 2,831,618, issued April 22, 1958 relating to the general type of valve for which the present invention is particularly suitable.

A principal purpose of this invention is to suspend a dip-tube from a dispensing valve for pressure dispensers with greater security, thus permitting greater pressures during filling and gassing operations and providing greater assurance that the dip-tube will remain in place throughout long periods of use. A further purpose of this invention is to provide a means for suspending a dip-tube from such a valve which will facilitate and make easier the assembly of the valve. An additional purpose is to utilize the flow characteristic of rubber-like material employed in the valve seal to anchor such a dip-tube. Still further purposeswill be apparent from this specification.

These purposes are accomplished by providing means to secure the dip-tube for flow communication to the valve, which means in general comprise a substantially rigid, cylindrical, tubular wall which is in communication with the dip-tube, a somewhat rigid annulus having inwardly-presented projections disposed radially outward of such wall, and, interposed therebetween, a resilient tubular member sealing the flow passage, into which member the projections of the annulus elastically anchor themselves and thereby retain the rigid cylindrical member.

The accompanying drawings show a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section and partly broken away, showing a valve assembly embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective of the retention ring shown in section in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

For clarity the same reference numerals used in said co-pending application are used herein for all corresponding parts.

The valve mechanism illustrated in Figure 1 is of a type for which the present invention is particularly suitable, and consists of a valve spout 21 passing through a central circular opening of a mounting cup 11, a rubber-like elastic tubular seal generally designated 14 passing therethrough between the spout 21 and the mounting cup 11, and extending below said mounting cup 11, a volute compression spring 26 resting on the base of the mounting cup 11 and maintaining the spout 21 in sealing engagement with the seal 14, and a dip-tube 32. When the valve mechanism is mounted to a container containing contents under pressure, sideward or downward pressure on the valve spout 21 permits the contents "ice of the container to pass through the dip-tube 32 into the flow passage formed by the seal 14 and out of the container through the valve spout 21.

The tubular seal generally designated 14 includes a sleeve portion 13, an enlarged body portion 15 on the inner side of the mounting'cup 11, which body portion terminates in an annular valve seating face 16. Radially outward of the valve seating face 16 is an annular groove 17, whose inner wall consists of the enlarged body portion 15 and whose outer wall is an elastic tubular skirt 18 which extends down substantially below the valve seating face 16, the outer surface of which is tapered slightly inwardly and downwardly. At the base of the sleeve portion 13 and extending radially outward therefrom substantially beyond the flexible annular skirt 18 is an annular sealing flange 19 presented flat against the inner surface of the mounting cup 11.

Within the annular groove 17 at the under surface of the seal 14 is received the outwardly-turned upper rim 27 of a hollow nipple generally designated 28 having beneath the rim 27 a substantially rigid cylindrical wall 29 terminating in a funnel portion 30 having a downwardly-presented tubular orifice 31 graspingly engaged by the upper end of the dip-tube 32.

A retention ring 50, shown in Figure 2, includes an uper ring face 51, which may slope radially inwardly as shown, and a plurality of inwardly-presented spaced teeth 52 projecting from an inWardlyand-downwardly sloping inner perimeter face 53 of the ring 50. Said teeth 52 include upper surfaces 54, beveled radially inwardly and downwardly to intersect lower tooth surfaces 55 at the inner tooth edges 56. Since the teeth 52 project and are beveled equally, their edges 56 lie in a circle. The spaces between the teeth 52 are at least as wide as the teeth.

In assembling the parts, after the rim 27 of the nipple 28 is seated in the groove 17, the retention ring 50 is placed around the skirt 18 and pressed upward until its upper face 51 is presented against the seal flange 19, in which position the tooth edges 56 are slightly below the nipple rim 27, as shown in Figure l. The skirt 18 may suitably be provided with an external annular shoulder 44 at a level below that of the lower surfaces 55 of teeth 52 after assembly as shown. The inner diameter of a circle connecting the inner tooth edges 56 is less than the outer diameter of the nipple rim 27, thus preventing it from passing through the opening of the ring 50. The thickness of the skirt 18 is greater than the space between nipple wall 29 and the tooth edges 56, but less than the space between the wall 29 and the innermost (that is, the lower edge) circumference of the sloping inner face 53 of the ring 50.

The inventive principles hereof will be rendered further apparent from a consideration of the alternate embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figure 4. The valve structure here illustrated consists of a solid valve 48 having an upwardly projecting stern passing through a central circular opening 10 of a mounting cup 11', a rubber-like elastic tubular seal generally designated 14 mounted in said opening and providing a tubular flow passage around the stem of the valve 48, an external actuator 49, and an internal dip-tube 32.

The tubular seal 14' includes a sleeve portion 13', projecting through and outward of the opening, and an enlarged body portion 15' on the inner side of the mounting cup 11', which body portion terminates in a valve seating face 16. Radially outward of the valve seating face 16 is an annular groove 17', whose inner wall consists of the enlarged body portion 15' and whose outer wall is an elastic tubular skirt 18'. The annular skirt 18 extends down substantially below the valve seating face 16 and its outer surface is substantially cylindrical. At

the base of the sleeve portion 13 and extending radially,

outward therefrom substantially beyond the annular skirt 18' is an annular sealing flange 19 presented sealedly against the inner surface of the mounting cup 11'.

Within the annular groove-17' of the seal 14 is received the upper rim 27 of a hollow nipple generally designated 28, which is identical with the nipple shown in Figure l and hereinabove described, and whose portions are correspondingly numbered; which nipple mounts a dip-tube 32.

Radially outward of the nipple wall 29 and the elastic skirt 18' is a retention ring 51) which is identical with that heretofore described.

When the ring 50 is placed around the skirt 18 or 18' and pressed upward, the teeth 52 project inwardly beyond the normal uncompressed outer diameter of the skirt 18, 18' and cause the rubber-like substance of the skirt 18, 18' to flow elastically from within the tooth edges 56 into the spaces between the teeth 52 as shown in Figure 3, and above and below the tooth edges 56, as shown best in Figure 4. The inwardly-and-downwardly beveled upper surfaces 54 of the teeth 52 permit easy passage of the ring upward. Downward pressure on the ring 50 causes the teeth 52 to dig into the rubber-like substance of the skirt 18, 18', thus preventing the ring from sliding downward from around said skirt 18, 18'. Downward thickness greater than the space between said wall and pressure on the nipple 28, such as may be experienced during insertion of gas through the valve for pressurizing the contents of the container, causes the rim 27 to compress the rubber-like substance of the skirt 18, 18 against the upper tooth surfaces 54. As previously mentioned, the rim 27 cannot pass through the opening of the ring 50 because its outer diameter is greater than the diameter of the circle in which the tooth edges 56 lie. If provided, as shown in Figure l, the shoulder 44 provides even greater security against the ring 50 being forced downward from around the skirt 18. Thus the dip-tube 32 is suspended in flow communication with the valve opening secure against downward pressure on the ring 50 or downward pressure on the nipple 28.

The present invention may be employed upon and in connection with other types of dispensers and other types of dispensing valves. In the claims which follow, it has been necessary to select certain language to describe spatial and directional relationships which could be readily varied. Such discharge valves are usually in the top wall of a dispenser, withthe tubular seal 14 in a horizontal plane, and with the valve spout 21 vertical when in closed position. It is convenient to think of a central axis about which the tubular seal 14, 14 may be considered to be formed. Thus, in the claims the term upward, or sometimes outer, refers to a direction taken along such axis from within the container outward through the mounting cup'opening 10, 10 whereas radially outward means perpendicular to such axis. The other terms of direction used in the claims will be understood as relating to these which have been defined. However, the claims cover the same structural relationships even though valves may be installed sidewards or slantingly, or in some container wall other than the top.

wall.

Many other modifications will occur to those skilled in the art. Thus the scope of the present invention is not to be limited by the embodiments illustrated, the materials mentioned, or the uses discussed; but should be construed as fully co-extensive with the claims which follow.

We claim:

1. In a valve for a pressure dispenser whose contents are discharged through flow-conducting means within the container, means to secure such flow-conducting means in communication with such valve, comprising a resilient valve seat having a depending tubular portion in the path of flow to such valve, a hollow, substantially rigid walled the projections of said annulus.

3. The mechanism defined in claim 1, said wall having an outward enlargement around its circumference at a level above the projections of said annulus, which enlargement is too great to pass through the projections of the annulus.

4. In a valve for a pressure dispenser whose contents are dispensed through a dip-tube, means to secure such dip-tube for flow communication with such valve, comprising an elastic tubular seal associated with such valve in the path of flow thereto and having a skirt portion depending within such dispenser, a hollow nipple having a lower end in communication with such dip-tube and having a substantially rigid cylindrical upper wall embraced by the seal skirt portion, and a retention ring having a plurality of inwardly-presented spaced teeth, the teeth having upper surfaces inwardly and downwardly beveled, said ring being mounted spacedly about and radially outward of said nipple upper wall and the seal skirt portion being interposed therebetween and secured sealedly against said nipple wall by the teeth of said ring.

5. The mechanism defined in claim 4, said skirt portion having an uncompressed thickness greater than the space between said nipple wall and the innermost edges of the teeth of said ring, and less than the space between said nipple wall and the inner perimeter of said ring, the spacings between the teeth being at least equal to their width, whereby to permit sideward flow into said spaces of the elastic material of said skirt portion as the ring is mounted in place.

6. The mechanism defined in claim 4, the innermost edges of said teeth lying in a circle, said nipple having,- above the level of its cylindrical wall and within the tubular seal, an outward-turned rim Whose outer diameter is greater than the diameter of said circle..

7. A valve mechanism for dispensers whose contents are discharged under gas pressure, comprising a valving member, a resilient tubular member emcompassing and providing a seat for said valving member, said tubular member mounting said valving member within an aperture of a wall of such dispenser, flow-conducting means extending downward into such dispenser, a hollow, substantially rigid walled member within the container mounting s aid downward-extending flow-conducting means and having an upper portion within said resilient tubular member, and a substantially rigid annulus having inwardly-presented spaced projections, said rigid annulus being disposed outward of the portion of said resilient tubular member surrounding said rigid walled member and its projections holding the said resilient member and said rigid walled member together in flow-conductive relationship.

8. A valve mechanism as defined in claim 7, the tubular member having an external shoulder at a level beneath and adjacent the rigid annulus.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,303,359 Hothersall Dec. 1, 1942 2,350,315 Kral May 30, 1944 2,712,262 Knohl July 5, 1955 2,766,914 Baer Oct. 16, 1956 

